In this episode of Maker Hangar, I show you how to assemble the motor mounts and body halves of your tricopter. I also teach you what CA adhesives are and what they can be used for. Next Episode, I’ll show you how to finish building the tricopter, so stay tuned! If […]

Last year on a trip to Japan, the character bombarded me. Arcades, shopping complexes, subways, television programs and convenience stores were polka-dotted with her glowing face. If you wanted something, chances were it came emblazoned with Miku branding, be it a toy figurine or a hyper-sexualized pastry.

How had someone, or something, become so popular across the world, and yet my colleagues and I had hardly heard of it? My curiosity led, as I suspect it does with many Miku fans, to a bit of obsession. The littlest bit of investigation reveals Miku isn’t just a pop star; she’s a bold improvement on the way we engage with intellectual property. She’s what Justin Bieber, Mickey Mouse and…

Bitlit works with publishers to get you free or discounted access to digital copies of books you own in print: you use the free app (Android/Ios) to take a picture of the book’s copyright page with your name printed in ink, and the publisher unlocks a free or discounted ebook version.

On a cloudless day in early June, Mark Adler stood facing the empty maw of the Pacific, contemplating invisible winds high above his head. For two years, he had pored over meteorological data from around the world in search of a sweet spot. That search landed him here, at the remote Pacific…

The Supreme Court has struck down a Massachusetts law establishing a “buffer zone” around abortion clinics, defining an area in which anti-choice protesters may not harass women who visit clinics. An important Metafilter post by Anotherpanacea points up the urgent need for more clinic escorts to help women through the gauntlet (I used to do clinic defense in Toronto’s Morgantaler Clinic, which was later bombed by anti-choice terrorists).Read the rest

The US Food and Drug Administration today approved a new insulin inhaler for use in treating diabetes, its first in years. The product, which is made by California-based MannKind Corporation, uses a dry powder that people can breath in to control insulin levels. It’s been designed not as a full-time replacement to insulin injections, and instead as an alternative to them at meal times given the powder’s short-term effects that kick in within what the company says is between 12 to 15 minutes.

The original game of Werewolf, also known as Mafia, is a party game of bluffing, paranoia, and wild accusations invented (appropriately enough) in Soviet Russia in the 1980s. It pits a small number of Werewolves (who know each others’ identities) against a larger group of Villagers who have no information; the Werewolves select a Villager to kill each night (while everyone’s eyes are closed), and the entire group votes on a player to lynch as a werewolf each day until one team or the other prevails. Jon Seagull reviews a much-improved version. Read the rest

Aaron Swartz was a young, bright genius who believed in the open Internet. A self-made millionaire by the age of 19, he co-founded Reddit, was part of the creation of RSS and became a political organizer and Internet hacktivist who was instrumental in the fight against SOPA. The Internet’s Own Boy, a film first released at Sundance and now opening to the public today, follows the story… Read More

The Director of National Intelligence on Friday followed through on calls for the government to be more open about its NSA surveillance programs, releasing its first transparency report. The problem is the transparency report wasn’t all that transparent. When reading the report, I was immediately struck by the revelation that under the bulk telephony metadata collection program, there… Read More

An Italian startup that lets people buy and sell city-owned parking spots to one another plans to ignore efforts to crack down on its business and those who use it. Monkey Parking today said will keep offering a way for people in public spots to “sell” their spot to another user of the service before vacating it, something that has typically been an open market for any nearby driver who happens upon it. Earlier this week, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera sent out cease-and-desist letters to Monkey Parking and two local startups, warning them that that handoff between drivers was illegal and could net up to a $300 ticket. Herrera also warned that the company could be subject to $2,500 fine for each of those violation as part of…

Three activist groups opposed to the NSA’s mass surveillance programs flew a brightly colored airship over the agency’s Utah data center today, displaying the message “NSA illegal spying below” for all to see. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Greenpeace, and and the Tenth Amendment Center orchestrated the demonstration, using a 135-foot-long airship owned by Greenpeace. The airship also promoted the website Stand Against Spying  a collaborative effort between the three groups that allows visitors to look up whether or not their congressional representatives have opposed the recently unveiled government surveillance efforts.

Last week, I went to a party celebrating the 10th anniversary of Jeff Clavier’s SoftTech VC. What I didn’t know was that the partners were also likely celebrating the close of the firm’s $85 million fourth fund for investing in startups. Read More

Binder Clip Bling is an update on the classic LED Throwie. By using a binder clip, you can turn off your LED bling by removing and separating your LED and battery circuit. Remember, the battery will run out long before the LED stops working! The binder clip also provides a great way to […]